Have you ever wanted a nice, personalized copy of Ubuntu to take around with you? Even if you aren't well versed in the terminal, Remastersys makes it very easy to create a customized live CD from the Ubuntu you already have installed.

I've been messing around with Puppy Linux because of its built in remastering capabilities only to find it lacking in certain areas. It was very difficult to get Compiz running and a lot of the Ubuntu packages don't work natively. Even though Puppy Linux is smaller and more well suited to older PCs, I wanted something more solid and pain free.

Enter Remastersys. Just set it and forget it. I was so surprised at how easy it was I decided to write a tip for anyone interested. I'm actually writing this tip from a remastered liveCD of Ubuntu I just made using Remastersys.

The Setup

You need to tell Ubuntu where to find the packages. In the terminal use this command to open the source list.

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Then insert this line at the end of the file that pops up if you have Lucid 10.04. For other distros go here to find the correct repository.

deb [www.geekconnection.org] karmic/

SAVE THAT FILE THEN update your sources like so..

sudo apt-get update

Install Remastersys like so

sudo apt-get install remastersys

Type in this to see the different commands available to you

sudo remastersys

Now to create a bootable .iso file you can use this command. ("custom" can be anything you want).RESULTING .ISO FILE IS LOCATED IN home/remastersys/

sudo remastersys backup custom.iso

Move the .iso file to a safe directory then clean out your remaster directory like so.

sudo remastersys clean

Take Heed

Don't use if you have personal information and passwords saved into your internet browser. It copies EVERYTHING!